Page 4 (1/2)

"Christopher wasn’t a bad person," Lydia insisted "He worshipped the ground Caroline, his ued, sure, and he had a temper, butit was just so out of character for him to harm her There was no way to work out exactly what happened that night There was only one witness--their daughter, my niece She was only three at the time"

Jaime smiled weakly "She was my favorite playmate"

Trick reest of the pups, so they’d all been very protective of her She’d been bright and full of life, and he’d teased her often by tugging on her curls and chasing her around

Even though she’d been tiny and delicate looking, no one had thought of her as weak She was born preh such a complicated birth that the pack healer hadn’t expected her to live h and instantly earned a reputation as a fighter

"Three?" Taryn echoed She shoved a hand through her hair, pinning back the different shades of blonde "Jesus, she must have been terrified"

"She was the prettiest, sweetest kid you’ve ever known," said Lydia, nostalgia in her voice "I was only eight years older than Francesca We were very close Her mom was beautiful--tall and slender with blonde spiral curls Francesca was a mini version of her, only she had Christopher’s blue eyes and dih "She’s a sculptor now, right?"

Lydia’s eyes snapped to hied "I looked her up a few tiood" Very good And very dark

Sighing, Lydia rubbed at her nape "I don’t kno ht, or if she even really understood what happened I didn’t get a chance to find out"

Taryn’s brow furrowed "What do you mean?"

"Her hter’s death--blamed my brother, my family, the pack They wanted to take Francesca, and they did The pack would have fought to keep her, but she see away froood for her, but what Mom hadn’t counted on was that the humans would refuse to allow us to even visit her They wanted all shifters out of her life, regardless of the fact that Francesca was half shifter herself"

"Bastards," muttered Riley

"Morandparents are a-rich and they hired an attorney that ran circles around ours We lost the case and were cut out of Francesca’s life Once I was old enough, I started to watch over her from afar I had Rhett check on her and keep me updated I passed on that infor parted frorandchild We just wanted to be sure that Francesca was happy, healthy, and safe"

"Is she?" asked Makenna

"It seeood life Soher, but I orried that she wouldn’t want to hear froh for us to know that she was okay But Moh Lydia’s mother, Iris, was a proud woreed to transfer to their pack so that Lydia could help care for her Having recently lost hertheir reed to move here hter

"She’d like to see Francesca just once before she passes on," Lydia added

"You’ve contacted Francesca already," Marcus guessed

"I sent her an e-ree to visit It was an impulsive decision I’m sorry I didn’t run it by you first," Lydia told the Alphas "To be honest, I wasn’t expecting her to answer But she did"

"And?" prodded Taryn

"Well, it eird"

Trick frowned "Weird how?"

Lydia bit her lip "She doesn’t seem to have a clue who I am"